Effect of titanium and nitrogen inoculation on the microstructure, mechanical properties and abrasive wear resistance of Hadfield Steels

Abstract The effect of titanium and nitrogen addition on Hadfield steels was investigated. In order to do this, two grades of steels were produced in terms of titanium and nitrogen addition. The final samples had their microstructure characterized and their mechanical properties were evaluated by uniaxial tensile and Charpy impact tests. Furthermore, the wear resistance was measured by dry sand rubber wheel abrasive tests. Microscopy analyses demonstrated that the precipitation of titanium carbonitrides resulted in a coarse microstructure, with large columnar grains coexisting with equiaxed ones. Consequently, these samples presented lower mechanical properties in comparison with the samples without titanium and nitrogen, which showed a finer microstructure. On the other hand, the presence of hard Ti(C, N) precipitates in the microstructure improved the abrasive wear performance of the steel during the abrasive tests.